Category Archives: Nostalgia

Mottled Pressboard Notebooks

Only the biggest stationery geek in the world goes around saying things like “I LOVE MOTTLED PRESSBOARD!” Only the biggest stationery geeks probably even know what it is… in fact, I myself didn’t know what it was until just recently. Or rather, I knew what it was but I didn’t know what it was called. … Continue reading Mottled Pressboard Notebooks

The Exercise Book Archive

What a cool thing: The Exercise Book Archive is a website that is preserving exercise books, otherwise known as children’s school notebooks, from around the world and over hundreds of years! You can click on each notebook and see larger images of the cover and interior. Here’s the pink one from 1980s China in the … Continue reading The Exercise Book Archive

The Evolution of Moleskine Notebook Packaging

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while: a deep dive into the evolution of Moleskine notebook packaging over the 20 or so years they’ve been around. I went through my collection of unused notebooks and found several distinct examples of different stages of their packaging design. I can’t 100% align these to when … Continue reading The Evolution of Moleskine Notebook Packaging

Vintage Office Supplies From Phil’s Stationery

A while ago, I wrote about Phil’s Stationery, one of the few remaining independent stores of its kind in NYC, selling new and vintage office supplies. When I stumbled across their midtown Manhattan store, I was in heaven. The sign alone is just so cool, and inside, there was a pleasantly dusty mess of notebooks, … Continue reading Vintage Office Supplies From Phil’s Stationery

Roaring Spring Notebook from the 1980s?

Here’s an interesting question from a reader named Jeff: I have a Roaring Spring notebook that was used as a journal by a family member, the contents are very precious to us but there’s some confusion as to the year(s) that the contents refer to!  (The writer only used Month/Day annotations, no year.)  Some family … Continue reading Roaring Spring Notebook from the 1980s?

The Christmas Notebook Tradition

A sweet notebook story for Christmas! Happy holidays to all! Every year around the end of November, my family starts decorating for Christmas. There are trees (yes treeS) and lights, ornaments and Santa figurines, but my favorite thing is a little orange spiral notebook. Let me explain… When my parents were married, almost 36 years … Continue reading The Christmas Notebook Tradition

Revisiting the Past: 1980s Roaring Spring Spiral Notebook (2009)

Continuing to celebrate this blog’s 10th anniversary, here’s another blast from the past– the past of this blog, and my own past as a notebook addict! The post below is just one of many I’ve written about my own collection of notebooks saved from throughout my life. (See My Collection) The 1970s and 1980s ones … Continue reading Revisiting the Past: 1980s Roaring Spring Spiral Notebook (2009)

Notebook Addiction at Different Ages

I’ve been thinking about what it’s like to be a notebook addict when you’re a kid vs. as an adult. I know this site has some teenage readers, and I sometimes hear from parents whose kids love notebooks. I myself was obsessed with notebooks before I even knew how to write– I recently found an … Continue reading Notebook Addiction at Different Ages

A Grandmother’s Notebook

An amazing article by Steve Lange, from Rochester Magazine: When my Nana died, a dozen years ago this month, she left me—or I was given—two items as mementos. Her notebook entries cover 73 years, from “June 10, 1933: Married” through Jan. 25, 2006, just a few months before she died. I can’t read the last … Continue reading A Grandmother’s Notebook

Royster Fertilizer Notebooks

A nice collection of agricultural advertising notebooks, and some reminiscences on how they were used: These pads and pencils were basic record keeping tools for a generation of farmers. One book might contain all of a farmer’s purchases and sales for a year. It might hold entries on all of the cash advanced or credit … Continue reading Royster Fertilizer Notebooks